By Salma El-Sakka
Renowned conductor Herbert Blomstedt, who led the San Francisco Symphony from 1985 to 1995, died Wednesday at his home in Gothenburg, Sweden. He was 99.
Career Spanning Seven Decades
Blomstedt's career included principal posts with the Norrköping Symphony Orchestra, Oslo Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony, Swedish Radio Symphony, Staatskapelle Dresden, Hamburg's NDR Symphony Orchestra, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. He won Grammy Awards for recordings of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" and Johannes Brahms' "Ein Deutsches Requiem" with the San Francisco Symphony.
Final Performance and Health
His last public appearance was on May 15 at Davies Hall, where he conducted Mahler's Ninth Symphony from a wheelchair. The performance halted during the third movement, and he subsequently canceled all scheduled concerts through 2027, including an engagement with the Vienna Philharmonic.
Faith and Philosophy
A Seventh-day Adventist, Blomstedt refused to rehearse on Friday nights and Saturdays but performed on those days, viewing himself as a preacher of music. He once described conducting as "intense communication" akin to "intense sex."
Early Life and Education
Born to Swedish parents in Springfield, Massachusetts, on July 11, 1927, Blomstedt moved to Sweden in 1929. He studied at Stockholm's Royal Academy of Music, Uppsala University, and the Juilliard School, later earning a scholarship to study with Leonard Bernstein at Tanglewood.
Family and Legacy
Blomstedt married Waltraud Petersen in 1955; she died in 2003. He is survived by four daughters and seven grandchildren.
